Wesley Hunt

Mr. HUNT

Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the Recruit and Retain Act before the House today. The Recruit and Retain Act is about helping our men and women in blue. This legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent, and I am proud to sponsor and lead this bill in the House along with my fellow committee member across the aisle, Representative Glenn Ivey. Our police departments are struggling with crisis-level recruiting shortages. Here in Washington, for example, the Metropolitan Police Department has the lowest number of officers it has had in the past 50 years. Another example, since 2019, the Chicago police force has lost 3,300 officers as of October 2022, and it has only replaced about half of those departures. Some small towns that don't have as many resources are even having to shutter their police departments entirely. We cannot stand by and let this continue to happen across our country, and this is why we need the Recruit and Retain Act. Currently, the DOJ provides grants to State, local, and Tribal governments to hire law enforcement officers under the COPS Hiring program. The Recruit and Retain Act would leverage the COPS Hiring program to ensure the program is responsive to the latest hiring challenges that law enforcement agencies are experiencing nationwide. This bill would reduce the cost of onboarding new officers, specifically fees associated with background checks, psychological evaluations, and other testing. It will also alleviate administrative burdens and clarify application guidance to ensure grants are accessible to all law enforcement agencies. It will create new opportunities for law enforcement to build trust and interest in law enforcement careers with local youth. Lastly, the bill will require research into the latest data and uncover new insights into law enforcement recruitment and retention trends across the country. This bill does not authorize new funds or create new grant programs, and it only allows existing COPS grants to be used for recruiting and retaining police officers. I am proud to say this bill has been endorsed by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Fraternal Order of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs of America, National Association of Police Organizations, National Sheriffs' Association, and others. When our police departments are well funded and maintained, our communities are safer. Americans are safer. Let's support our cops. Let's help attract the best and the brightest to the law enforcement profession. That is so important in the environment our police officers live and work in every single day in this country. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Recruit and Retain Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 546) to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize law enforcement agencies to use COPS grants for recruitment activities, and for other purposes.

Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on S. 546.

Mr. HUNT

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition not to H.R. 7659 or the United States Coast Guard but to a provision inside this bill that will decimate offshore oil and gas production in the United States as we know it. Section 346 of this bill will impose such burdensome regulations on crews of foreign-flagged vessels that they would cease drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Within 90 days of enactment, offshore oil and gas production will come to an abrupt halt. Let me repeat that. Within 90 days of this provision's enactment, American oil and gas production will cease in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessels and crews used in this industry are highly specialized and complex and require foreign workers. As it stands, there are not enough American mariners sufficiently trained to conduct such complex offshore work. The systems used on these vessels take years of training and experience to operate and maintain. Anything short of precision could result in catastrophic outcomes. Many of you know that I am America First through and through, I am a veteran through and through, but I am also realistic. Foreign-flagged vessels and crews are used because the United States simply lacks U.S.-flagged vessels or trained crews to work in this specialized area. This manning and crewing provision will put the United States at a competitive disadvantage and will drive up prices for American families. I have said it before and I will say it again, American offshore oil and gas operators produce the world's cleanest barrels of oil and gas. We should be producing more oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico, not less. This provision will cause the U.S. to produce less energy, allowing other countries to step into that void. Let's not cede the advantages that America possesses to other nations that will produce dirtier barrels of oil and natural gas, increase the financial burden on Americans, and use the proceeds to undermine our national security and our way of life.

Mr. HUNT

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inquire about a possible and deliberate violation of U.S. imposed sanctions due to Russian aggression. As the war in Ukraine carries on and as Russian sanctions are imposed, I worry that our focus on Russian assets and agents in Europe has overlooked assets and agents in former Soviet republics such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. I would like to draw specific attention to various companies registered in Cyprus which operate in these former Soviet republics. One such example is a Cyprus-registered company which operates in Uzbekistan and Russia called United Cement Group (UCG). UCG acquired the Uzbekistan government's stake in one of the country's largest cement factories in early 2022 in what has been described as an ``opaque'' transaction with no formal tender and a significant discount on the sale price. This acquisition by UCG has positioned the company to now control about 50 percent of Uzbekistan's cement capacity. We are seeing monopolization under the guise of privatization, to the benefit of Russia. This is just one example of a bad actor in these relatively overlooked countries that are taking advantage of the international focus on Ukraine. I will be sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen imploring her to further investigate these apparently corrupt improprieties and potential sanctions violations that continue to transpire in this region of the world.

Mr. HUNT

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rutherford).

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 495, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 44) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives relating to ``Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached `Stabilizing Braces' '', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.J. Res. 44.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.J. Res. 44 provides for congressional disapproval for the rule submitted by the Biden ATF relating to factoring criteria for firearms with attached stabilizing braces. On January 31, 2023, the ATF issued a final rule that effectively bans pistol stabilizing braces nationwide. The ATF's rule redefined a firearm with an attached stabilizing brace as a short-barreled rifle subject to regulation under the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934. Let's be clear about what is happening here today. With one stroke of a pen, unelected bureaucrats in Biden's ATF changed regulatory definitions that will turn millions of law-abiding citizens into felons overnight. That is a fact. If the owners of the roughly 40 million stabilizing braces in circulation today do not obtain a special registration, surrender, destroy their brace, or turn their brace in to the ATF by May 31, 2023, they could now face criminal penalties up to 10 years in Federal prison, with fines of up to $250,000. This isn't happening because Congress passed a law or because a judge issued a ruling. This is an example of the executive branch making law. This is a Federal agency usurping the legislative authority that Congress has under the Constitution. Congressional Democrats couldn't pass a bill that outlawed pistol stabilizing braces, so the Biden administration has utilized executive fiat to achieve the desired outcome. To make matters worse, the rule directly contradicts a prior 2012 determination made by the Obama ATF. President Obama's ATF said that a firearm equipped with a stabilizing brace would not be subject to the National Firearms Act controls. The ATF says one thing for a decade and then does another which will then turn millions of law-abiding citizens into felons literally overnight. Now, American citizens who own these pistol stabilizing braces and relied on the statements made by the ATF are in violation of Federal law and are subject to serious criminal penalties. The Second Amendment is imbued in the Bill of Rights for a reason. It preserves the First Amendment and all other unalienable rights afforded to the American people. We don't need to reimagine the Second Amendment. We don't need to curtail it. We most certainly won't be repealing it with a 28th amendment. This ATF rule is an affront against the rights of the American citizen and an assault on the Second Amendment, and it must be defeated. This resolution will nullify the ATF rule and further protect one of our most basic rights and reclaim Congress' lawmaking authority given to us by our Constitution. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a cost estimate for H.J. Res. 44 prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. H.J. RES. 44, A JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson).

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Burlison).

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I am a Texan, I am a veteran, and I am a gun owner. I am a gun owner of multiple AR-15s, primarily for hunting, and, of course, to protect my three little kids at home, a 4-year-old, a 2- year-old, and a 5-month-old. No one is going to walk into my house and harm my children or my wife--my family. That, I can assure you. Mr. Speaker, 6 percent of all gun homicides are at the hands of an AR-15 and weapons that are outfitted with a pistol brace--6 percent, and 60 percent are at the hands of a handgun, and the rest are weapons designated not as the two that I just mentioned--6 percent. This is clearly an attempt to diminish our Second Amendment rights because if you just take away 6 percent of the gun homicides, it leaves you with 94, and I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that a homicidal maniac who wants to arbitrarily murder people will find another weapon of choice. I hear the words weapon of war oftentimes, as well. I am an A-64 Delta Apache pilot. I flew 55 combat air missions in Baghdad. That is a weapon of war. A civilian-made AR-15 is nothing that I would ever take to battle. Now, I also recognize that we do have a mass shooting problem in this country, and my colleagues on the left want to, of course, blame the AR-15. However, Mr. Speaker, I stand before you to blame the homicidal maniac. I walk in these Halls every single day, and I am surrounded by brave men and women who carry AR-15s and weapons every single day. I have to walk through a metal detector just to get in this building every single day. Just because I wear this pin does not make me more important than my children. So what I offer is that instead of trying to erode our Second Amendment rights, I would offer let's protect our kids. Let's ensure that they have the same protection that we have in the Halls of Congress. There are over 400 million guns currently in circulation. By the way, the overwhelming majority of the people who don't use weapons are law- abiding citizens like myself. I refuse to allow the erosion of our Second Amendment rights to further disarm our population, making us less safe as a further push toward communism, because that is what happens. When you disarm your population, then the government runs amok. We, especially down in Texas, are not going to allow that to happen. Mr. Speaker, I certainly encourage my colleagues to support this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds).

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.